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Episode DiscussionWhether you want to speculate about the upcoming episodes or reminisce about the episodes you watched years ago, Episode Discussion is your place for discussing, speculating, and reviewing all the Pokémon anime episodes.

Pokémon Anime Watch-Along Club

Hi, everyone! Welcome to Pokémon Anime's Watch-Along Club! It's kind of like a book club except, you know, for the anime.

What happens is that we'll pick a random episode for the week and have everyone watch it however they choose. You can watch it in Japanese, with or without subs, the English dub version, or any other dub version. It doesn't matter, just watch it! And then come back here to talk about it with others. But only for that week! Once the week is over, we're going to move on to the next episode on our list. If you miss the deadline and still want to share your thoughts on the episode, we have other threads in which to do that in and I will happily direct you there. If you can't find a way to watch the week's episode, just PM/VM me or post in the thread. I'm sure we can set up a livestream or something. I'll make every effort to find you a way to watch!

Don't be afraid to join in on this! You can jump in any time, watch only episodes you want to see, wander off for a while, whatever. Nobody's gonna judge. I just want people to watch, enjoy, discuss, and try to look at the anime with fresh eyes. Throw away your preconceptions and character interpretations and try to think about it purely in that moment. Think of how the story is told, how the characters react, the good and the bad. A wordy review is good, but so is just pointing out aspects you liked or disliked! You're free to choose how to express yourself. There's like no formality here.

We also have a Streaming Thread where you can set up or request livestreams of any episode you would like to watch. Preferably including the weekly Watch-Along episode.

So let's recap!

Overview

- This is a book club except with Pokémon Anime episodes.
- We will focus on one randomly chosen episode per week.
- Everyone will watch this episode in the version of their choice.
- If you can't find the episode, PM/VM Anna or Wobbu or post in the thread.
- When the week is over, we will move on. You can finish up the conversation about last week's ep, but try to focus on the next one.
- You may join or drop out of the club at any time with or without warning.
- New episodes will be posted on Mondays.

Kicking Things Off

Our first week will be March 24 - March 30. That means this Sunday through Saturday. As it's only Friday for most people, what I'd like in the meantime is a show of enthusiasm a consensus on the first episode we watch. I've got a list above, but feel free to suggest some! Especially from DP, as I personally haven't watched much of that saga and so I don't know which would be good.Edit: due to popular demand Vappy and me deciding it would be a good idea, the weeks are now Monday through Sunday.

Looks like our first episode is "A Call For Brotherly Love"! Here's the Bulba link if you need a reminder of which one that is. The official week we will be watching this episode is March 24 - 30, but since we've got a bit of extra time... feel free to go ahead and begin watching and talking!

[Be aware that nothing is considered a spoiler and so feel free to say whatever you like about the episode.]

I'm excited to see how this watch-along club plays out. You've got my participation! I'll watch the episode this weekend. Maybe I'll type out my thoughts as I'm watching the episode, and then post them here.

This looks fun! I won't be able to participate every week because I have limited computer access right now but I'll definitely watch as many weeks as I can and discuss them here ~ Definitely going to try and make sure to watch the first week's episode.

Yay! I'm glad to see so much enthusiasm and some usernames I don't know! I mean I love y'all that I do know but new people are exciting too. ^^; And yeah don't even worry about just popping in and out or missing some or even opting out because you hate certain eps. This club's designed just so that won't be problematic at all. :D

Oh and I've watched the episode again and come back with some discussion topics! If you want to use them go ahead, but don't feel obligated. :>

- What do you think/how do you feel about Chili's behaviour in this episode? How justifiable were his actions?
- How necessary did you think Iris' flashback/exposition piece was?
- What do you think was the most important piece of advice Cilan gave to Chili?
- Were you as irritated by Cilan's tasting as Necrum was?

01:24:44: <Necrum> Oh my god, why is he a chef
01:24:55: <anna> he kind of is
01:25:00: <Necrum> He's embarrassing
01:25:02: <Necrum> Me
01:25:05: <anna> but that's not what they're actually going for
01:25:15: <anna> they're going for a sommelier- a wine taster
01:25:40: <Necrum> He just described flavor like you would gormet food
01:25:54: <Necrum> As a chef
01:25:55: <anna> or a fine wine
01:26:00: <anna> as a sommelier
01:26:05: <Necrum> Shush
01:26:18: <Necrum> It's still making me face palm

Agh, I forgot how much I disliked the first opening of Best Wishes. Having to watch it again really takes me back to the earlier days of BW and reminds me of my inner complaints about how long this opening was dragged on.

- What do you think/how do you feel about Pod's behaviour in this episode? How justifiable were his actions?
He was really immature and full of himself; poor guy didn't realize that fighting opponents head-on wasn't the best (nor the only) way to battle. He was pretty childish towards the beginning but that's how his personality is I suppose! He still matured a lot by the end. :3

- How necessary did you think Iris' flashback/exposition piece was?
If you mean the explanation of the gym at the beginning, then I found it kind of pointless, but the target audience are younger kids and a handful of them probably weren't around for the first gym. Guess they felt it was necessary to explain?

- What do you think was the most important piece of advice Cilan gave to Chili?
I liked how Cilan suggested to master Chili's current battling style rather than focus on the defensive! Doubt he could have made use of many defensive moves given his personality.

- Were you as irritated by Cilan's tasting as Necrum was?
His habit of relating things to food? Nope, I've been following this series since day one and have long since gotten used to it lmao. D:

wow whoops I'm so horribly inconsistent when typing character names I actually meant to do all English this time ;; difficult when I watch subbed lmao

Tooootally going to agree about Best Wishes' opening, bleah. Love the song, hate the animation. Well actually I don't know what version you watched but tbh that applies to both for me haha.

A few other things: Ash was absolutely adorable as a referee omg. Pansear and Pansage have a cute relationship. I liked the brotherly bonds we got to see. Poor Cress though- left all alone at the gym without a word from anyone. And it'll be a good month at least till Chili's back [seeing as how the Deerling have changed from spring to summer in the meantime].

Oh hey Cirno- and anyone else that's been mostly keeping up with the series- have you seen Cilan change and learn during his travels like he says he has been? Cause it's not like we've had too many Cilan-centric episodes... have you noticed his style shifting or similar?

- What do you think/how do you feel about Chili's behaviour in this episode? How justifiable were his actions?I think that Chili certainly had every right to be upset. But it did not give him the right to shirk his responsibilities as a Gym Leader.

- How necessary did you think Iris' flashback/exposition piece was?Well, for me never watching hardly any of the Anime, it wasn't completely unnecessary. That being said, I already knew all that, having played the games in depth and knowing who pretty much all of the Gym Leaders are.

- What do you think was the most important piece of advice Cilan gave to Chili?Crap, I should have payed more attention instead of playing challenges while watching... I thought his battle advice was really good, but I honestly can't remember any of the personal stuff he said...

- Were you as irritated by Cilan's tasting as Necrum was?Allow me to explain my irritation. I am a chef myself, and am pretty familiar with the terminology used by Cilan while explaining his choice of teaching them a new offensive move rather than a defensive one. The way he used them to describe Pokemon battling felt so unbelievably embarrassing to me, that I face palmed pretty much the whole bit.

Sorry my answers are a little thin. Especially that third one. This was the first episode of Pokemon I've watched since I was like, 10 or 11. So I'm a little rusty and still getting a hold on things. I gotta say my biggest disappointment was the severe lack of Team Rocket, whose only appearance was James using Rock Smash. It was a good episode none the less. I prefer episodes with a clear antagonist though, personally.

I made a joke along these lines. Sorry some of the text is messed up, it looked fine when I saved it. I didn't notice the screw up til I had it uploaded already, and didn't feel like completely remaking the picture.

Spoiler:

Next week, I would like to cast my vote for "The Fortune Hunters". It has a lot more Team Rocket, which I would like to see some of before we get more into territory I'm less familiar with. Plus it has James dressed up as a Moltres, and who doesn't want to see that?

- What do you think/how do you feel about Chili's behaviour in this episode? How justifiable were his actions?
I really did not enjoy it. He seemed to fit Iris's "What a Kid" phrase more than most others. I know his fiery attitude is supposed to represent his fire type gym leader status, but I still found it annoying. (thinks of brat kids at work).- How necessary did you think Iris' flashback/exposition piece was?
I thought, because it had been about 50 episodes more or less, it might have been needed for some viewers. - What do you think was the most important piece of advice Cilan gave to Chili?
I thought that Cilan telling Chili to work on making his own battle style work for him instead of trying to force himself into using someone else's successful one was very important. - Were you as irritated by Cilan's tasting as Necrum was?
Not really, it would be worse if they used the japanese translation in the english version.

(Fortune Hunters would be awesome btw)

One thing that really irked me was Ash's refereeing. Iris was right about everything she said about it.

Aw, really? I thought it was adorable. It's not like he acts as ref much- or at all- he's much more used to cheering indiscriminately for his friends and caring about the Pokémon rather than being the impartial judge. Which totally showed and I liked that. I like when we get the little personality quirks showing instead of characters just filling whatever role the writers need to have them in at that point.

Okay guys, it's March 30 and the week is up! This means that you may no longer discuss "A Call For Brotherly Love" in this thread. There is a review thread set up if you wish to make additional comments about the episode or even compose responses to others. If you have missed the deadline and still wanted to put in your two cents, you should also go to the review thread! Or even if you haven't watched the episode yet but plan on doing so- remember: review thread!

Now, this week's episode! From March 31 to April 6, we will be watching The Fortune Hunters! It's an early Johto episode that involves some Rocket schemes and Pokémon fortune-telling. That there is a link to the Bulba article; beware of spoilers if you're that type of person. Go on and watch it! Remember that I can also provide solutions for you if you can not find a way to watch the episode.

If you used the book in this episode, what Pokemon do you think you would be matched up as?

I'll answer once when Anna posts the discussion questions (and I watch the episode itself...). Preemptively going to say Starmie, since I am normally cool and collected. (Plus water types are the best, yo!)

Adding to Necrum's question- remember this is in Johto! You can only pick from Bulbasaur to Celebi!

Luke says I'm a Hoothoot. I don't know what to make of that haha. I might be an Oddish or a Swinub though. Who knows. Someone else try to pin me as one, I legit have no idea lmao.

here's basically a liveblog! because that's how I review things actually!

Spoiler:

- ohhh johto theme ♥♥♥ jugglypuff and snubbull and ahhhh
- ohh the animation is so different oh my god
- wow the second little girl is obvs misty's voice
- hahaHAHA HI BUTCH
- why is Ash in charge of the money now?
- I'm actually highly entertained by Ash's faces and poses in this episode.
- "I've been meaning to shoplift one" oh Jessie ilu
- y'know, I guess the Pokémon world's year is only 251 days long. Unless they've been duplicating things, but that's not cool.
- BOTTLECAPS OH JAMES BBY
- James is such a ridic cutie. ♥
- the dialogue in this episode is fantastic omg
- this little kid referring to Brock as a kid haha
- haaaaaaa the flaming Moltres is the most fabulous ever
- James is just really cool okay I love him ♥
- I love when Jessie actually uses Wobbuffet correctly. :D even if only for a moment haha

Ahhh old episode makes me happy. Even though it... wasn't actually that fantastic. ^^; Honestly I wish James' confidence had come out more often, because he genuinely does well when he's not being all timid and a follower. I mean, don't change the hierarchy or anything, but let the boy do some cool stuff! Actually, can we talk about that a bit? How competent James- and Jessie and Meowth- can be when they're a) actually trying and b) not trying to steal Pokémon? I don't really have any proper discussion questions this week sorry. xD;

I loved getting to watch an old episode. I thought the Pokémon fortunes were pretty funny (lol Ash being a Bellsprout). Misty being a Gyarados was a great idea, seeing as at that time it was her like least favourite Pokémon. I suppose if they wanted, they could've always used a bug type instead. My favourite part od the episode however was the flaming Moltres part. I think it is probably one of my favourite scenes in the whole show. I like seeing James being more confident, it was nice to see him winning for a change. One thing that annoyed me was Brock getting Butch's name right, cause that like shouldn't happen. At the end, I think James probably ended up being a weak Pokémon like Magikarp or Caterpie, or maybe something funny like Jynx.

Misty was def perfect as a Gyarados though. Since she hated them and yet totally was similar to them. I'm not sire what bug types could fit so well or could have been so fun.

And I've always been convinced that James was a Magikarp though. Because of his on-and-off association with them. And it seems like a bad one, but really when you think anout it... Magikarp are pretty much indestructible, nothing eats them, they evolve into Gyarados, their shiny colour is gold... there are other cool things that I'm forgetting but I'm typing on a phone and don't wanna go try to read up on Magikarp. But yeah! I bet he's that.

The episode was definitely a fun one, and well worth the wait to see James in his costume. One thing I was not expecting, was for James to straight up kick Victreebel in the face! That really made the episode for me. I always love seeing Butch and Cassidy too, cuz even though I like the standard Rocket Trio, it's always nice to have other antagonists. I do think that Team Rocket would succeed more if they were more confident, but I think the fact that the main characters were easily able to beat Butch and Cassidy shows that it's really not incompetence that is holding them back, they just need to focus on other targets.

I think James was a Victreebel at the end, since that seems like a Pokemon that would freak him out, plus I think it matches his personality.

Right, well, moving on swiftly! If you still want to discuss The Fortune Hunters, head to the Kanto/Orange/Johto Discussion thread. But it's the 6th, so it's new episode time! Since Necrum actually put in a vote [remember to do that guys goodness] we'll be watching The Bicker the Better! There's the Bulba link. Basically, the twerps are headed for Fortree, Ash and May fight, Jessie and James fight, and there are like three double battles.

You have from April 7th to April 13 to watch and discuss this episode!

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